The Book of Idedynam
by Ziltron
Summary: This is, quite simply, the most pretentious NiGHTS fanfiction, EVER.
1. Book 01: Red

AN: About a year ago, the thought occurred to me that no one had written a needlessly complex philosophical discussion about the nature of Ideya, disguised as an obscure religious text. Clearly, something had to be done about this. Taking the task in hand, I reached down into the most pretentious and pseudo-intellectual depths of my soul and produced this, the Book of Idedynam.

Modeled after the Bhagavad Gita, more impossible to read than the Apocrypha, the Book of Idedynam is more than a work of fan fiction. It is a pile of steaming 'pian crap. I am not proud of what I have done. I am _extremely proud of it_. Please enjoy it, if such a thing is possible.

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_Complete versions of the Book of Idedynam (as the title appears on most texts) have existed in European monastic libraries as far back as 1000 C.E. Until recently, it was assumed to have originated shortly before that period and to have been written by an ecstatic monk of an unknown order._

_In the 1900s, however, a complete Arabic text was discovered in the ruins of Istanbul, among Arabic versions of Greek philosophic works. Scholars date this version as three hundred years older than the European. On this basis of this apparently translated version, some scholars began to place the book's conception at least as far back as the Athenian period._

_Most recently, a fragment of pottery containing a passage similar to the fourth section was found in the Indus valley. Carbon dating indicated that the fragment was older than Sumerian cuneiform, perhaps as old as written language itself. Scholars still debate over whether this fragment is earliest version of this book or simply a source which its author drew upon. _

_What follows is T.A. Anderson's translation of the Arabic text, considered by many to be the most reliable English translation._

* * *

Hope to the hopeless, strength to the fearful, and grace and peace from the Lord of Worlds. 

A traveler in a red cloak set out from his home city to bury his dead father. The road between the cities wound through a forest haunted by dark creatures. To pass the time, the traveler began to read from one of the holy books:

"_Red for Courage; Courage bleeds,  
White for Pure heart's noble needs.  
Blue for Knowledge, Heaven's birth,  
Green for Wisdom of the Earth.  
Yellow Sun brings Hope of Day,  
Colors five drive fears away._"

A beggar in a white cloak heard the traveler and ran out to meet him. He asked the traveler if he could join him on his journey, for he was too weak and old to walk it alone. Now the traveler was very devout, so he dared not refuse to help a poor old man.

By and by, the hermit became tired and could go no further. But the traveler was determined to continue, so he picked up the old man and began to carry him on his back. The hermit was moved by the traveler's kindness, and asked him where his great strength came from.

Said the traveler, "The holy books all say that Courage is enough to see us through any trouble. Though the road we walk is long and painful, Courage gives us the strength to continue, because it cannot be taken from us."

Said the old man, "How can this be? How can anyone continue without Hope? Is it possible to remain strong if there is no reason to continue on the path? We must put our Hope, our faith into something. We believe we should continue, because. Hope is the substance of things known, but not seen."

"Even so, Hope and faith can be put into the wrong things. That is why we also need Wisdom. A man may know that the sun rises and the sun sets, but only Wisdom can tell him that the night is more dangerous than the day. Some paths lead to destruction and others to life. Wisdom cries out to you, teaching lessons in the lives of those who walked before you. Wisdom is how we know which path to walk."

"And Wisdom is nothing without Intelligence, knowledge. Wisdom can tell us that the night is more dangerous, but through Intelligence we know that it is not the sun that moves, but our world. Through this knowledge, we learn things that lead to greater Wisdom. Wisdom lets us know which road to walk, but Intelligence gives us the practical knowledge we need to survive the journey."

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AN PS: So, the quote from the 'holy book' is from a longer poem already posted on I don't _think_ that this counts as reposting, as I'm only quoting part of it...anyways...here's hoping.

The 'history' of the book is complete rubbish made up at 3 in the morning.The word 'idedynam' comes from the Greek bases IDE- (thought, idea) and DYN(AM)- (force, power).It was meant to sound like an outdated, ancient scholarly term for Ideya. Does it?


	2. Book 02: Yellow

The old man paused here on the road and gazed up into the sky. The sun was at its height and shining brightly. He begged the traveler for some bread and water from his provisions. The traveler agreed, and they stopped on the side of the road to share a meal.

Said the traveler, "If Courage is so weak on its own, why do the holy books say it can continue by itself?"

Said the old man, "Because it is partially true. A person with Courage can, for a time, continue down the road alone, struggling against adversity without any of the others. For a time."

"Without Hope, why should we continue? No matter what strength our Courage gives us, without a reason to continue we will sink to our knees and die."

"Without Wisdom, how will we know which road to walk? If we have Hope and Courage, but lack understanding, we will put our faith in the wrong thing, walk the wrong road with strength, and come to destruction."

"Without Intelligence, how will we survive the road we walk? If we have Wisdom to walk the right road, have Hope of arriving, and the Courage to walk, but lack the simple knowledge to not walk into mortal danger, then we will never the end of any road."

"So, Courage can continue alone for a short time, but it will never survive without the others. Either it will not continue to the end, or it will walk into destruction on the road, or it will find that it was on the wrong road all along."

Having said this, the old man broke branches from a large tree and began to fashion them into walking sticks with a knife from the traveler's provisions. For the traveler, he used a large, straight branch; for himself, a smaller, knobbed one. Once he was finished, the two of them continued on the road.

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AN: Made it this far, have you? Impressive!


	3. Book 03: Green

Said the traveler, "Courage may be destroyed, but it cannot be taken from us. If anyone has true Courage, they will resist unto death rather than surrender it."

Said the old man, "This too is partially true. Take away Hope, Wisdom, and Intelligence, and Courage will only laugh and plunge back into disaster. The one that walks will be destroyed, true, but Courage will not fail. The way to take Courage is not by taking the others, but by defiling them, by Corruption."

"Corrupt a person's Hope. They will not sink to their knees and die, but will be so sure in their victory that they will see no reason to continue. Courage will quickly atrophy in disuse. Then, it will fail and be yours."

"Corrupt a person's Wisdom. They will put their faith in the wrong road and walk in your way with much strength. Then, their Courage will be yours."

"Corrupt a person's Intelligence. They will soon 'know' that there is no Hope, 'know' that all Wisdom is empty, and they will 'know' that Courage should be surrendered to you."

"Thus, one can have Courage, Hope, Wisdom, and Intelligence, but still come to ruin."

Said the traveler, "Corruption? I have never heard of this; no, not in a single one of the holy books!"

Said the old man, "That is because holy books are not written by those who are familiar with the power of Corruption."

Said the traveler, "If such a thing exists, then all of these holy books are useless. If they do not warn us against evil, how will we guard against it?"

So saying, he ran into the forest and threw his book onto the ground of a clearing. Through the break in the trees, he could see the gates of his home city.

* * *

AN: So I've been reading the Koran lately. The phrase 'gaurd against evil' comes up about 10,000,000 times in it. And now it's here, in a philosophical thingie about NiGHTS. Thismodern age sure is amazing. 


	4. Book 04: Blue

The old man walked into the clearing with the traveler.

Said the traveler, "My father, who died, was a very wealthy man. How can I watch over his estate if I cannot guard my own soul?"

"Tell me, old man, how can Corruption be defeated? I cannot leave here until I know."

Said the old man, "Purity is the only means by which to fight Corruption. It is the life-blood of all the others. Purity is love for faith, love for understanding, and love for all that is true. If our Hope, Wisdom, and Intelligence remain Pure, our Courage cannot be stolen."

"If our Hope is pure, it can still be taken from us, but not turned against us."

"If our Wisdom is pure, it can still be taken from us, but not turned against us."

"If our Intelligence is pure, it can still be taken from us, but not turned against us."

"Purity itself can be taken from us, but if it remains Pure, it cannot be turned against us."

Hearing this, the traveler followed the old man out of the forest.

* * *

AN: The letters 'AN' are a shorthand way of saying 'Author's Notes.' Author's notes are where the author says random things that bear little relevance to the story. Sometimes, they attempt to clear up obscure meanings or references in the story. But usually, it's just random things. 


	5. Book 05: White

Back on the road, they reached the outskirts of the city.

Said the traveler, "If all this is true, then I wish for Purity only and not one the others. Courage, which I once desired above all else, has no true strength of its own."

Said the old man, "This is also partially true. The weakness of Courage is that it can only stand alone for a time. But this is also its strength, a strength the others lack."

"Can Hope stand alone? No, faith without strength tells us that _some_ can continue, but not us."

"Can Wisdom stand alone? No, understanding without strength tells us _which way_ to go, but to know without walking is to be dead."

"Can Intelligence stand alone? No, knowledge without strength tells us only _how_ to survive, without strength how will we continue living?"

"Can Purity stand alone? No, love without strength to endure to the end will always become defiled."

"Courage cannot continue forever alone, but perhaps it can continue long enough. Perhaps if we have these five, but the four are taken from us, we will still live for a time."

"Perhaps, if we live, we will have faith enough to continue."

"Perhaps, if we live and have faith in the right thing, we will understand the road that we walk."

"Perhaps, if we live, have faith, and understand life, we can gain some knowledge of how to keep on living."

"And only if we live, only if we know how to keep living, only if we understand which road is right, and only if our faith is in the right One,…"

"Maybe then we will be Pure."

So saying, they reached the gates of the city and entered.

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AN PS: Okay, so I really didn't write this to be pretentious. The original idea was to write a Nightopian/Nightmaren philosophical document about how Courage was different than the other Ideya (i.e. those little 'maren can't steal it from you in the game). Then it mutated, like an evil alien space spore, into a theory of how Courage _could_ be stolen. 

Then, I just kind of slapped it up on It's an experiment. Whatever. I'm done.

"And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."


End file.
